This week, the New American Economy issued a report on the economic impact of immigrants in every state, highlighting the role immigrants play as entrepreneurs. One place where immigrants are starting new companies in Wyoming is the Wyoming Technology Business Center – a business incubator for start-ups.
Wyoming Public Radio’s Caroline Ballard visited the center and spoke with Jon Benson, CEO of the WTBC, and Christoph Geisler, an immigrant from Holland the chief research scientist at Glycobac, LLC, one of the companies at the incubator. They said immigrants and international students are key to research at the university and to start-ups at the incubator. This year, more than 40 percent of teams that applied to the university focused entrepreneurship competition included an international student. Still, international students can face difficulties in obtaining the correct visa to work after graduating.
The report from the New American Economy is part of the national campaign “Reason For Reform” to get politicians talking about immigration reform this election season. The Wyoming Humanities Council will not advocate for specific policy, but will help facilitate conversations about immigration reform around the state as part of the campaign.
